new year, new stuff and things

Now that we’re 12 days into 2016 and everyone I know who set new year’s resolutions has been reduced to grasping on with their fingertips while dragging behind the back of the wagon, I feel like it’s an appropriate for me to set my own resolutions.

By resolutions, however, I really mean a 2016 bucket list.

These are the things I want to do this year:

Go to Rooster’s Country Cabaret and ride the mechanical bull.

Take a burlesque dance class.

Host a tea party (with cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off).

Go to Tofino.

Make homemade linguine.

Compliment three strangers in a grocery store.

Learn 10 phrases in Mandarin.

Have a proper picnic (checkered blanket, basket, the works).

Make homemade candles.

Make a soufflé.

Do something reckless (within reason. Safety first!)

See the Northern lights.

I hope that 2016 is weird and wonderful and messy and fascinating and ordinary.

I also hope that at least some of your days start off with hot cups of earl grey, good conversation, and these lemon and blueberry pancakes.

Lemon Blueberry Pancakes

I know I just made pancakes, and (upon further reflection) these are almost identical, but I have a lot of things to do this year, and I believe it’s best to be indulgent before tackling one’s bucket list.

Ingedients

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar (I used vanilla sugar because I’m fancy like that …and because I received some for Christmas)

1/2 teaspoon salt

zest of 1 lemon

3/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

2 tablespoons melted butter, plus extra for the pan

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup blueberries (I used frozen wild blueberries)

Directions

Preheat a frying pan over medium-low heat. Lightly grease with extra butter or oil (or use a non-stick pan).

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together melted butter, milk, egg, lemon juice, and vanilla until well combined. Sift in dry ingredients (flour through lemon zest) and stir until just barely combined. Fold in blueberries.

Pour batter onto the pan, however large you’d like your pancakes to be (I generally use a 1/3 cup measuring cup). When they’re dry around the edges and starting to bubble in the centre, flip them over and cook for another minute or two.